The instant invention resides in the art of apparatus for balancing wheels. Particularly, the invention relates to an assembly which facilitates the balancing of aircraft wheels of the type formed in two halves.
In the past, aircraft wheels have been manufactured by securing together two wheel halves, and the same have been balanced individually by attaching weights to the wheel within the envelope defined by the joining of the two halves. However, new wheel designs have greatly limited the space available for the placement of such balancing weights. Indeed, wheels have been known to fail because the wheel halves have not been properly joined due to the binding of one half against a weight secured to the other half. Most likely, this occurs when a rib on one of the wheel halves makes contacting engagement with the bolt passing through the wheel web and securing the weight.
With the prior art wheel balancing apparatus and techniques, it has been necessary to drill holes within the webs of the wheel halves to attach weights thereto. Of course, each such hole weakens the wheel. Hence, it is most desirable to limit the number of weights to be attached to a wheel, and this can best be achieved by increasing the amount of weight which may be applied to a given available area on the web.